Blood of a Masked Butterfly
by Liza Taylor
Summary: She knew about the Dark Hour since its creation. Fighting against the Shadows ever since she was young, she locked her heart away in order to never suffer again. However after joining SEES she realizes that it is much harder than she thought it would be.


**Yup! Another Persona 3 fic. XD I got the idea for this one after thinking about what would happen if Minako had always known about the Dark Hour and Personas and such since the beginning. After thinking it over and figuring out basic storyline, this story was born! It's going to be a combination of the game plot and some ideas of my own. It's also going to be much darker than Chosen is. Well then, I'll stop talking now. Enjoy the prologue and first chapter of Blood of a Masked Butterfly!**

Prologue

Minako sucked in a couple of deep slow breaths. Her left hand was pressed against her left side. She could still feel her blood trickling over her fingers though. The injury was too deep for her to stop with her hand alone. Her right held her naginata. It was slippery in her grip from the blood but she would hold onto it no matter what. Without it she was dead.

She could hear them. Voices nearby. Nearby but yet so far away. Friends. Something she never thought she would have. She could hear his voice above all of theirs. "Aki," she whispered, more for herself than anyone. His voice, pleading her to get away. It wasn't worth it. This wasn't worth losing her life over.

She couldn't though. No matter how much he protested, no matter how much they all protested she could not run from this. She looked up at her adversary and a sly smile escaped her pained lips. "I never thought it would end like this."

She saw him smile back at her but he didn't speak. Well it's not like she expected him too. She silently thanked them. The friends that she made in her short time here. They made her so happy. If they weren't around then she knew she would never ended up where she was right now.

Stop. She had to stop thinking like that. She gritted her teeth and removed her left hand from the injury. Without the barrier her blood began pouring out of her body. She didn't have much time left.

A battle cry escaped her lips as she charged and swung her naginata. She felt it clang against his sword. A sly smile crossed his face. He shifted position and pulled his sword back before striking out again.

She struggled to lift her naginata to block but she was too weak. She couldn't block in time. She watched as the blade came towards her and she closed her eyes ready to accept the end.

Chapter 1

The train clicked and clacked as it made its way down the tracks. The announcer over the intercom said the train would be arriving in Iwatodai Station soon. There weren't many people on the train though. It was close to midnight after all.

A young woman sat by herself. A pair of red headphones in her ears drowned out the sounds from the outside world. What appeared to be a baseball bat case sat on the seat next to her. Her red eyes were closed, all of her attention focused on the music.

She opened her eyes when she felt the train lurch to a stop. She got to her feet and picked up the case and made her way out of the train. Another town. It would be the same here as the rest of them. Nothing changes, no matter where she goes.

"Almost time now," she commented when she checked her phone, "Three, two, one."

As soon as the final word left her mouth the world around had a green tint to it and the people around her turned into black coffins.

"Guess it was too much hope to escape from it here, huh Minako?"

Minako took off her headphones and turned to the young boy next to her. His blue eyes seemed to glow eerily in the green light. "Well what do you expect Pharos?" She ran her fingers through her brown hair. "Anyway let's get going."

She walked out of the train station and looked up at the sinister moon overhead. "Same thing for the past ten years," she sighed, "Why my aunt wanted me transferred here I'll never understand."

"It might have to do with all of the sneaking out you do at night. Sometimes you don't make it back in time before the Dark Hour ends."

"Not my fault," she replied, "Keeping track when it end is your job. Plus how am I supposed to explain to her about a secret hour that she can't see?"

Pharos sighed and shook his head, "You're just going to put all of the blame on me huh?"

Minako shrugged, "I guess." She grinned and ruffled his hair, "Naw. I know it's all my fault."

Pharos chuckled, "You never change do you?"

"How could I?" Minako pulled out the slip of paper that told the address where she would be staying. A dorm near her new school. The school that her aunt forced her to go to since she didn't want to deal with a delinquent like Minako anymore. "Anyway, let's go Pharos." She began walking in the direction she thought the dorm was in. She paused when she saw Pharos was looking in the opposite direction. "What is it?" Her red eyes narrowed, "Shadows?"

"Yes," replied Pharos, "I'm sensing other presences as well."

"Well whatever, the other presences don't matter," Minako removed the baseball bat case from her shoulder and pulled a naginata out of it. A grin spread across her face, "I didn't think I would get to knock out a few Shadows so soon after coming here but this is perfect."

Pharos sighed, "And here I thought you were here to turn over a new leaf."

"Stop dawdling!" Minako took off in a run, "There are Shadows to kill!"

Linelinelineline

Yukari Takeba's hands shook as her eyes scanned the black blobs with masks surrounding them. Besides her Akihiko Sanada and Mitsuru Kirijo were trying to hold their own against them. She took a deep breath and pulled out her evoker. She knew she had to help. She pointed it to her head and sucked in a deep breath. She had to do this. She had to help Mitsuru and Akihiko fight them.

"Akihiko!"

Yukari looked over to see Akihiko get knocked back by a bufu spell. She tightened her grip on her evoker. She had to help him! She had healing spells. That was why she was here.

"Takeba!"

Yukari turned her head to see a Shadow flying towards her. She stood there frozen, staring at it in shock. There was no time. She couldn't fire her evoker in time. She closed her eyes, ready for the end.

It never happened. She opened her eyes and saw a humanoid mechanical figure with long brown hair in front of her. It disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"A persona?" asked Akihiko in confusion as he got back to his feet.

Yukari heard the sound of approached footsteps. She saw a young woman walking over to where they were, a naginata resting on her shoulders. She looked to be about their age with brown hair pulled up into a ponytail. Her red eyes were cold and calculating.

She removed the naginata from her shoulders and held it ready in her hands before charging towards the Shadows. Yukari stared in shock as her naginata whipped back and forth. Any Shadow that got close enough to her was sliced to bits in mere seconds. The Shadows themselves were not amused. They moved their attention away from SEES and focused all of their attention on the newcomer.

"That's amazing," whispered Mitsuru.

"She's fighting them like it's no big deal," Akihiko also seemed shocked, "Who is she?"

As fast as it began, it was over. The young woman sighed and turned to the three of them. She rested her naginata on her shoulder and said, "I'm guess you haven't been experiencing the Dark Hour for long if you have trouble against Mayas."

"Who are you?" asked Mitsuru, stepping forward, "And how do you know about the Dark Hour?"

She sighed and seemed to look very bored, "Look. The Dark Hour isn't something you can just run around and play hero in. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

"Wait," said Akihiko. He took a step towards her, "Can we talk a bit? You seem to know about the Dark Hour."

"I'd rather not," she replied.

"Hang on, are you Minako Arisato?" asked Mitsuru.

A flicker of surprise crossed her face. Yukari's eyes widen. This was Minako Arisato? The new girl that was moving into the dorms? Yukari had pictured her to be much more…feminine?

"That's right," she rested the end of the naginata on the ground, "My name is Minako Arisato. My question is how do you know that?" Her red eyes flickered over to Akihiko and Yukari.

"We're all in the same dorm," explained Mitsuru, "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, this is Akihiko Sanada and that's Yukari Takeba."

"So a bunch of people who can enter the Dark Hour live together," murmured Minko, "I'm guessing this was purposeful?" She walked over to a baseball bat case lying on the ground and put her naginata inside of it.

"Hang on," said Akihiko, "Are you going?"

"Of course," replied Minako, "There are no more Shadows out here. I'm heading for the dorm."

"Hang on!" cried Yukari, finally getting her voice. "Why are you acting like this? I mean, shouldn't you be happy that there are more people who can enter the Dark Hour? Why are you just writing us off like we're beneath you?"

Minako looked very annoyed now. "Well when you've experienced the Dark Hour for ten years then you can come complain to me about it!"

Linelinelineline

Minako could see the shock register on the brown haired girl's face, Yukari right? It seemed like Akihiko and Mitsuru felt the same way. What amateurs.

"Why must you always be like this to everyone we meet within the Dark Hour?" Pharos sighed, "You're never going to make friends this way."

"I don't need friends," Minako murmured to him. Unfortunately she discovered years ago that she was the only one who could see the little boy. It made it difficult to have a conversation with him around others.

"Ten years," whispered Mitsuru.

"Have you been fighting Shadows that long too?" asked Akihiko.

Minako rolled her eyes. Honestly. "Of course," she said in reply. What were these guys stupid or something? She turned to go but heard someone run up to her. She looked to her left to see Mitsuru walking next to her.

"We have to return to the dorms as well," she explained, "It would be better if you followed us there."

"Fine," replied Minako. Obviously these people wouldn't let her go. What a bother.

"Come on Minako," said Pharos. The little boy ran ahead and spread out his arms, "It's a chance for a new beginning!"

Minako ignored him as she followed Mitsuru. She and Akihiko were talking a bit about school. Minako glanced back at Yukari who walked a little bit away from the group. "What were you doing before? Pointing a gun to your head I mean?" Hang on. Now that she got a closer look at the group, all of them had guns.

"It's an evoker," explained Akihiko, "it's used to summon our personas."

"How do you summon?" asked Mitsuru, "I think it's safe to assume that the persona that saved Takeba was yours and you don't have an evoker."

"That's strange," commented Pharos. He was next to Mitsuru and he peered at her evoker in its holster. "Why would you want to point a gun to your head and shoot to summon? That's odd."

Minako lifted her right hand and snapped her fingers. A bluish fog surrounded her and Orpheus appeared above her head, "Like that." She smirked when she saw their expressions. Amateurs. These guys thought they could survive in the Dark Hour like this? Orpheus faded away as quickly as he had come.

"How are you able to summon without a summoning medium?"

Minako glanced over at Mitsuru. She had to explain herself? She shrugged, "Don't know. It was harder when I was younger but now I can do it without effort." It was all thanks to Pharos's teaching that she could even summon the thing. Why should it matter how she could do it?

They were coming up to a building now. Minako hoped it was the dorm. Being around people like this got on her nerves. Plus she could feel that Yukari girl giving her a distrusting look against her back.

"Oh, looks like our time is coming to an end," said Pharos. "Can you please try to get along with them?" He waved goodbye as the green tint on the world faded away.

"Looks like the Dark Hour is over," said Akihiko.

Minako put her headphones back on and let her music drown out everything. She lowered the volume when she noticed Mitsuru was talking to her. Oh scratch that. She was talking to Yukari.

"Take Minako up to her room. I need to contact the Chairman about this."

Yukari looked like she wanted to do anything but that. Minako rolled her eyes to herself. "Well, this way," said Yukari as she began leading the way into the dorm and towards the stairs. "Guys are on the second floor, girls on the third. You have the room on the end."

Minako shook her head, "You don't have to tell me all of that. It's not important. Plus you don't have to escort me to my room."

Yukari looked like she was going to give Minako a sharp retort but she held it back. Wow. Maybe she had some control over her emotions after all. "Anyway," she said as she stopped in front of Minako's room and opened the door, "All of your stuff is in there. You just have to unpack it."

Minako walked into her room and stared at the boxes everywhere. Would there even be a point of unpacking? No. There wasn't. She wasn't going to call this place home.

"Listen," said Yukari, "Although you do seem to look down on us I know there has to be something good down there. You did save me after all."

Minako shrugged, "Now you're just looking too much into it. I saved you because I was curious about why there were people running around the Dark Hour that's all. I didn't save you out of the goodness of my heart." She saw the hurt cross Yukari's face but she ignored it.

"Well," said Yukari, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," replied Minako in her signature bored tone. Just thinking of something she stepped out into the hall and called out to Yukari before the brunette entered her room, "And just to say, do not hesitate next time. If that's how you summon then you should suck it up and do it otherwise you'll end up dead."

Minako knew if Pharos could appear outside of the Dark Hour he would comment that it was out of character for her to give advice to another even if it was an insult. She shut her door and collapsed on the bed. Truthfully she didn't know why she saved Yukari. It wasn't the first time she had seen people in the Dark Hour. Many times she just stood by and let them get killed. People who couldn't fight themselves didn't belong with the Dark Hour. Plus saving them could get them attached to her.

"Damn it," she whispered as she covered her face with her hand. She had to be careful now. She curled herself in a ball. She couldn't let it happen again. Never again.


End file.
